IHEA 08

IHEA Fairview Heights, IL

My second International Hunter Education Association Conference has me just as wound up as last year’s. Wednesday featured a full-day workshop; “Ethics in Action”, featured Jim Posewitz from Orion, The Hunter’s Institute, Dr. Bob Norton, co-author of The Stages of the Hunter, Dr. James Tantillo, Cornell University and Pat Dorsey, Colorado DNR.

I have heard Posewitz speak before. He has written Inherit the Hunt, Beyond Fair Chase, and Rifle in Hand, all really exceptional books I recommend. He is also an avid Theodore Roosevelt junkie. Dr. Norton spoke at last year’s conference in Baton Rouge. His research about the attitudes of hunters and non-hunters is extensive. Tantillo was the keynote speaker. His remarks carried much of the research and conclusion of his doctoral thesis- “The Morality of Hunting: “A Damnable Pleasure”.

I took pages and pages of notes, reveling in fascinating discussion by people who have experienced and appreciated so many aspects of the outdoors from the most basic morning in the wild and exotic hunting trips in far away places to the most abstract concerns like the fact that a recently as the 1960’s virtually everyone who held a position of wildlife management at state and national levels had experiences with hunting and fishing.  Today less than 50% have that experience. At the current rate of this trend, by as early as 2020 the only experience with animals’ most wildlife managers will have had prior to taking their jobs will have been in the laboratory.

Friday was a field day at the World Shooting Complex in Sparta, Illinois DNR’s state-of-the-art, 1,600 acre recreational complex with 120 trap fields, 24 skeet fields, 3-D Archery area and three and a half mile shooting line.  There are 1000 RV campsites in case you want to hold a little get-together.

 Saturday there were sessions directed specifically for hunter ed instructors and of course the banquet and auction.  I got a chance to visit with the new Executive Director, Wayne East. And Chris Chaffin told me about a new group called the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA). I met Marilyn Bentz, Executive Director of the National Bowhunter Education Foundation and a variety of Hunter Education State Coordinators from all over North America and beyond. 

The folks that attend are easy to get to know. There is a strong community feel in the air. By the time I left the hospitality suite Saturday night, I felt like I was saying so long to long-time friends, looking forward to meeting up again next year.